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VR is great but it sure has a lot of clutter. I remember the first time I cracked the Vive box – the head set, controllers, lighthouses, cables, and chargers were all neatly packed into a largish box. Unpacked, the Vive accessories can command a lot of space. I wanted to cover some storage options and ideas for the Vive and help tidy up your VR collections.

Any time I use the Vive I’m juggling the head set, head phones, and a pair of controllers. This stuff will eat up a lot of desk space when not in use and it all needs to be handled somewhat carefully. Luckily there are a few ways to neatly and safely store your Vive and controllers.

Storage Options

This is a nifty hook based solution that uses guitar hooks to support the Vive headset, controllers, and cables. The hooks do a very nice job of supporting the headset without stretching the elastic.

Next up is two track based options that are a little more flexible and slightly more attractive, depending on your aesthetic. The one downside is they let the headset hang which will allow dust to collect on the lenses and may stretch the elastic strap.

Another option is to reuse the shipping foam included in the Vive box and use it as drawer liners. Classy but not space efficient. The upside is that you completely hide your Vive in a set of drawers – much less obtrusive than mounting your VR collection to the wall.

If you really want to show off your headset you can mount in on a glass mannequin head when not in use. Futuristic to some, creepy to others. Normally used for ski goggles, it’s the closest purpose built mount you may find.

Hardware manufacturers are tripping over themselves to build flashy virtual reality head mounted displays but the PCs to power these devices receive little attention. HMDs such as the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive are only one half of the VR equation.

The Requirements

As VR awareness becomes more mainstream the big question for most people is,

“Can my PC handle it?”

The answer is likely “No.” VR content requires a powerful gaming PC to pump out the high frame rate required to make the experience fluid and enjoyable. Many people will have to upgrade their graphics card or invest in a new PC to meet the minimum specs required. What are those specs?

HTC has released official recommendations that will help guide our build.

The PC

The recommended specs are a good starting point for the build. One of the main goals for a VR PC build should be flexibility. If you’re going to invest the money in a PC now it’s a good idea to make sure the hardware will still be relevant 12 to 18 months from now. At the same time you should resist the urge to purchase today’s top of the line components. You’ll be paying a premium for a slight performance edge that will be eroded when VR optimized GPUs arrive in the next generation. Save that money and upgrade later.

After doing some research I knew I was interested in building what could be described as a budget performance PC. I wanted my overall build to be inexpensive, have flexibility for future upgrades, and have the power to meet and exceed the HTC recommended specs. I wanted to invest some money upfront in the processor and motherboard so they wouldn’t have to be upgraded later.

Here’s what I put together:

Processor – Intel Core i5-4590K – Haswell processor from Intel, will offer excellent performance for the cost. Also consider the Intel Core i5-4690K which slightly exceeds the recommended spec. Note that this includes its own cooler and fan, nothing else is required here!

Graphics Card – EVGA NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 4GB GDDR5 – Good performance for the price, EVGA makes a great card. It’s great that Oculus set a fixed GPU bar for the Rift, just keep in mind that one day this may need to get replaced.

Motherboard – MSI ATX DDR3 2400 LGA 1150 – supports Z97, modern and inexpensive. (2) USB 3.0 ports for the Rift. This is a great foundation for a new PC and will support upgrades over the life of the PC. Great BIOS screen for easy setup.

This should be everything you need to put together the perfect Vive PC with upgrade potential. Budget versions of this are possible but this PC is a quality build for the Vive. I included Amazon links for everything and recommend them for their Prime shipping and ease of exchanges.

If you were waiting months and months to build a Rift PC now is the time to start ordering parts. CV1 is officially on the horizon! Oculus has released the official recommended specs for the PC hardware to power the Rift. This is a smart move as it standardizes the experience for developers and end users.

Surprisingly my generic VR PC build was very close to the recommended specs. This build will focus on the recommended Oculus requirements and provide you with the exact parts you need. The goal was to build a capable PC with quality components that would meet the specs without greatly exceeding them. I also made some decisions in order to make future expansion or upgrades easier.

The big question for most people will be, “What specific components are best for the Rift?” It can be hard to mix and match parts to find the right combination. Here is what I would recommend:

Processor – Intel Core i5-4590K – Haswell processor from Intel, will offer excellent performance for the cost. Also consider the Intel Core i5-4690K which slightly exceeds the recommended spec. Note that this includes its own cooler and fan, nothing else is required here!

Graphics Card – EVGA NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 4GB GDDR5 – Good performance for the price, EVGA makes a great card. It’s great that Oculus set a fixed GPU bar for the Rift, just keep in mind that one day this may need to get replaced.

Motherboard – MSI ATX DDR3 2400 LGA 1150 – supports Z97, modern and inexpensive. (2) USB 3.0 ports for the Rift. This is a great foundation for a new PC and will support upgrades over the life of the PC. Great BIOS screen for easy setup.

This should be everything you need to put together the perfect Rift PC with upgrade potential. Budget versions of this are possible but this PC is a quality build for the Rift. I included Amazon links for everything and recommend them for their Prime shipping and ease of exchanges.